In what will be the first time she has a series regular television role, Diane Keaton will star in HBO’s The Young Pope.
The Oscar winning actress joins the eight episode series created by Paolo Sorrentino and jointly produced by Sky, HBO and France’s Canal Plus. She joins the previously cast Jude Law and will play Sister Mary; an American nun living in Vatican City, according to Variety. Sorrentino will also direct all eight episodes.
The series is about the fictional beginning of Pontificate of Pius XIII, born Lenny Belardo (played by Jude Law). Belardo is described as a complex and conflicted character who will face losing those closest to him and the fear of being abandoned by everyone including his God. Belardo uses his power and compassion to take on the mission of defending his God and the world representing Him.
Sorrentino describes the series like this according to Variety. “The clear signs of God’s existence. The clear signs of God’s absence. How faith can be searched for and lost. The greatness of holiness, so great as to be unbearable when you are fighting temptations and when all you can do is to yield to them. The inner struggle between the huge responsibility of the Head of the Catholic Church and the miseries of the simple man that fate (or the Holy Spirit) chose as Pontiff. Finally, how to handle and manipulate power in a state whose dogma and moral imperative is the renunciation of power and selfless love towards one’s neighbour. That is what ‘The Young Pope’ is about.”
The Young Pope hails from Wildside and Haut et Court TV with executive producers Lorenzo Mieli, Mario Gianani, John Lyons, Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta and Simon Arnal. The project is expected to be released in 2016.